While Shanghai has ambitious plans to build 36 more museums in the next two years, some local experts worry that dated designs may prove an impediment to attracting crowds.
For instance, the History Museum of Chinese Medicine, established in 1938 by the Chinese Medical Association, has thousands of precious exhibits -- such as rare herb samples, ancient acupuncture tools and medical containers but the display is monotonous and offers no English explanations.
"The museum has failed to draw visitors because its display is too boring," admitted Wu Hongzhou, the museum's curator.
Wang Jian, an organizer of the Shanghai Engineering Museum currently under construction, is still looking for ideas to showcase his nearly 200 scarce artifacts, including boundary boards of concessions, bulldozers and surveying instruments.
"These weather-beaten artifacts record the city's history but if we don't find an appropriate way to explain them to people, they will seem like waste material," said Wang.
Shanghai will have 100 museums by 2005, and most of them will be non-government-funded "trade museums," exhibiting artifacts of specialized industrial areas such as textiles and ship-building, according to the Shanghai Commission of Relics Management.
As a result, visitors will be a crucial source of income for the galleries. Local experts are calling for use of more high technology in the display of exhibits to attract patrons.
"It's necessary for trade-museum owners to find some exciting technology to make their exhibits more interesting," said Zhang Wenyong, a senior researcher with the Shanghai History Museum.
Museums should not just be a collection of artifacts, monotonously arranged. People will not visit "history museums" unless they can find a trace of their own life in them, he said.
(Eastday.com June 4, 2003)
